Cicely Tyson Returning To Broadway After 30 Years To Star In 'The Trip to Bountiful' Revival

The last time Cicely Tyson appeared on Broadway was during an August 22, 1983 to September 18, 1983 run of the play, Corn Is Green, which itself was a revival. She played Miss Moffat.

And while she's been nominated for an Oscar, and won 3 Emmys, she's never been nominated for a Tony award.

This afternoon brings news that the 78-year-old Tyson will return to Broadway for the first time in 30 years, to star in a revival of Horton Foote’s 1953 drama The Trip to Bountiful, which will be directed by Michael Wilson.

The show is set to start a 14-week run on April 23, after previews that begin on March 31, at the Stephen Sondheim Theater.

Here's the entire plot of the play:

Set in the 1940s, the play tells the story of an elderly woman, Carrie Watts, who wants to return home to the small town where she grew up, but is frequently stopped from leaving Houston, Texas by her daughter-in-law, and an overprotective son who won't let her travel alone. However, old Mrs. Watts is determined to outwit her son and bossy daughter-in-law, and sets out to catch a train, only to find that trains don't go to Bountiful anymore. She eventually boards a bus to a town near her childhood home. On the journey, she befriends a girl traveling alone and reminisces about her younger years and grieves for her lost relatives. Her son and daughter-in-law eventually track her down, with the help of the local police force. However, Mrs. Watts is determined. The local sheriff, moved by her yearning to visit her girlhood home, offers to drive her out to what remains of Bountiful. The village is deserted, and the few remaining houses are derelict. Mrs. Watts is moved to tears as she surveys her father's land and the remains of the family home. Her son eventually turns up, and drives her back to Houston.

Ms. Tyson will of course play Carrie Watts.

The play was first produced as a teleplay on NBC in 1953, starring Lillian Gish as Carrie Watts; it would later premiere on Broadway premiere that same year with the same cast.

And in 1985, a film version of the play was produced, and starred Geraldine Page, who won an Academy Award for her performance.

So, clearly, this is a work that we could say should put Cicely Tyson in the running for what will be her first Tony nomination, and possibly win, in 2014.

Additional casting for the revival is still to be announced; and while a spokesman for the production said the Watts family members will be played by African American actors, the play will not be another one of those all-black versions of plays that weren't originally written with black characters.